INDIGENOUS education has taken a leap forward with $569,376 in state government funding awarded to Minimbah Pre and Primary School.
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The funding will be used to build a new preschool room for four-year-old students and transition.
Principal Jenny Brown said the school was thrilled to be able to offer culture-focused education to more students.
“It’s a great boom for them [the students], we have children that haven’t been to preschool coming into our kindergarten class and they’re so far behind everyone else,” Ms Brown said.
“Early childhood education is really, really important and if we could increase the number of children who have access to that, that’s brilliant for us and the whole Aboriginal community.
The school teaches the importance of culture to its students.
“That’s the main thing about our school, that we respect that culture, we teach that culture and we keep it alive – for the kids it’s just so, so important for them to feel that their culture is important and not just to them but everyone around them,” Ms Brown said.
Once the new classroom is built Ms Brown hopes the school will be able to employ more Aboriginal staff members.
Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall visited the school on Monday to deliver the funding announcement.
“The new classroom funding will actually help all the other services that come into Minimbah to assist students, whether they’re health professionals, family counsellors – they will be able to access those students better in a purpose-built classroom,” Mr Marshall said.
“There is certainly an educational achievement gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students and to address that we need to get in very early.
“Those years between zero and five are absolutely critical to a child’s educational development, the support and education they receive here is some of the best in the state.”
The planning for the new classroom is still in the development phase, but principal Jenny Brown hopes they can have the project completed before enrolment next year.